1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to improved high voltage fuses and methods of construction thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
High voltage fuses are well known in the art. Typically, high voltage fuses comprise a hollow cylindrical housing formed of a suitable electrically insulating material. Over the ends of the housing are mounted metallic end walls. A fusible element is positioned within the hollow insulated housing and connected at each end to the metallic end walls.
Because of the advances in technology, it is now possible to design and fabricate a current limiting fuse having a relatively short terminal to terminal length. While such fuses maintain adequate internal dielectric strength after operation, the external leakage path is not always adequate to prevent flashover between the terminals under wet or contaminated conditions because of the reduced length. Thus, it has been found to be desirable to include an increased insulating distance on the exterior of (or, elongate the external path over) the fuse to increase the leakage path and prevent external flashover.
However, it has been found that it is not always desirable to integrally form annular flanges on the cylindrical housing of the fuse. Thus, it would be a desirable advance in the art to provide improved methods of construction of high voltage fuses which permit the construction of a high voltage fuse having flange-like members or skirts that are not integrally formed with the insulated housing of the fuse.